Amiga emulation
Encyclopedia
Amiga emulation refers to the activity of emulating
(mimicking the hardware of) a Commodore Amiga
computer system using another computer platform. Most commonly, a user will emulate the Amiga using modern platforms such as Wintel
or Macintosh. This allows Amiga users to use their existing software, and in some cases hardware, on modern computers.
Attempts have also been made to create a hardware Amiga emulator on FPGA chips (Minimig
).
One of the most challenging aspects of emulating the Amiga architecture is the custom chipset
, which is extremely complex (even though today's graphics processors and digital signal processor
s outperform it easily) and relies on critical cycle-exact emulation, particularly for some game titles. As a result, early emulators did not always achieve the intended results though later emulator versions can now accurately reproduce the behavior of Amiga systems.
or PowerPC AmigaOS (AmigaOS 4, MorphOS)
and/or AGA
chipsets and modern graphics and audio subsystems, including Picasso96 graphic libraries and Amiga AHI
16 bit audio subsystem.
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
(mimicking the hardware of) a Commodore Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
computer system using another computer platform. Most commonly, a user will emulate the Amiga using modern platforms such as Wintel
Wintel
Wintel is a portmanteau of Windows and Intel, referring to personal computers using Intel x86 compatible processors running Microsoft Windows...
or Macintosh. This allows Amiga users to use their existing software, and in some cases hardware, on modern computers.
Attempts have also been made to create a hardware Amiga emulator on FPGA chips (Minimig
Minimig
Minimig is an open source re-implementation of an Amiga 500 using a field-programmable gate array .Minimig started in secrecy around January 2005 as a proof of concept by Dutch electrical engineer Dennis van Weeren...
).
One of the most challenging aspects of emulating the Amiga architecture is the custom chipset
Original Amiga chipset
The Original Chip Set was a chipset used in the earliest Commodore Amiga computers and defined the Amiga's graphics and sound capabilities...
, which is extremely complex (even though today's graphics processors and digital signal processor
Digital signal processor
A digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:...
s outperform it easily) and relies on critical cycle-exact emulation, particularly for some game titles. As a result, early emulators did not always achieve the intended results though later emulator versions can now accurately reproduce the behavior of Amiga systems.
Amiga emulators
At the time of writing there exists no emulator capable of emulating an Amiga with PowerPC acceleratoror PowerPC AmigaOS (AmigaOS 4, MorphOS)
Fellow
An actively developed emulator capable of emulating all the common Amiga configurations. (A500, A600, etc...)UAE
Although the name varies, this emulator exists for Windows, Macintosh, RISC OS, Linux, Unix and other systems, including the Amiga itself. It is capable of emulating an 68K Amiga, including undocumented behavior, with OCSOriginal Amiga chipset
The Original Chip Set was a chipset used in the earliest Commodore Amiga computers and defined the Amiga's graphics and sound capabilities...
and/or AGA
Advanced Graphics Architecture
Advanced Graphics Architecture is the third generation Amiga graphic chip set, first used in the Amiga 4000 in 1992. AGA was codenamed the Pandora chipset by Commodore International internally....
chipsets and modern graphics and audio subsystems, including Picasso96 graphic libraries and Amiga AHI
AHI (Amiga)
AHI is a retargetable audio subsystem for AmigaOS, MorphOS and AROS. It was created by Martin Blom in the mid 1990s to allow standardized operating system support for audio hardware other than just the native Amiga sound chip, for example, 16-bit sound cards.AHI offers improved functionality not...
16 bit audio subsystem.